PS3 Fanboy

Sony and Electronic Arts have just announced a partnership to provide the EA SPORTS Complex within PS3's PlayStation Home community. In this exclusive game space, gamers will be able to play new EA SPORTS multiplayer games, view leaderboards and interact with other fans while watching trailers and content from EA SPORTS games.

"We're proud to support the PlayStation Home Beta with a very robust offering from EA SPORTS," said Peter Moore, president of EA SPORTS. "As part of our continued commitment to the connected experience and the digitization of our business, the EA SPORTS Complex is a rich new online environment that presents a compelling and immersive social gaming experience for the global sports audience."

EA also announced plans to introduce other EA brands to PlayStation Home in the future. This announcement, in conjunction with today's Red Bull space, shows that Home is rapidly becoming a much more engaging experience than what it was at launch.

Update: Video trailer, after the break.

We know many of you were upset when you played Madden 08 on the PS3. It certainly had its issues, but don't let that put you off Madden 09. The Orlando Sentinel's Matthew Simantov spoke to the Senior Producer of the game, Phil Frazier, who told him that Madden NFL 09 will be identical on the PS3 and the 360. Not only that, but the QA team actually prefer playing on the PS3 version. The game comes out in under a week, but the demo is already on the PSN Store. From the sound of things, EA has learned from their previous mistakes. Is this enough to win back those of you who swore yourselves off the franchise after Madden 08? Check out the first part of the video for more inside talk about the game.

For those of you who are looking to buy Madden 09 on day 1, rather than wait till the game inadvertently drops to $20 around the same time next year, can save a little money with this deal. Pre-order the game by July 13th at NFLShop.com, apply the coupon code NFLEXTRA25 for 25% off, and get the game for $44.99 + $4.99 shipping = $49.98. The game will retail for $59.99 when it debuts, so you'll be saving $10 and potentially sales tax. Unfortunately, those in California, Georgia, Illinois, Kentucky, Massachusetts, New York and Pennsylvania will have to pay sales tax. Take advantage of this deal here.

[Via SlickDeals]

The official site for FIFA 09 has debuted with three new screeshots from the PS3 version for your viewing pleasure. Heavy emphasis is still placed on the 250 changes to be expected in the lastest version of the popular soccer/football franchise. Not much new information other than what we reported on before is revealed, and still no word on what the PS3 exclusive mode will be either. You can even place a pre-order at the EA Store; however, only a general release date autumn 2008 has been given at this time.

EA has tweaked the company's Fantasy Football service with some much welcomed connectivity to home consoles such as the PlayStation 3. The biggest change comes in the ability to take a fantasy squad and import the team into the upcoming Madden NFL 09. Yeah, that's right, use your fantasy squad in the game -- even in online head-to-head matches.

The web-based service is free of charge; however, those who want to download the applications onto their PS3s will have to pay a currently undisclosed amount of cash. An interesting addition is that fantasy scores can be viewed in either "full screen mode" with complete rosters and details, or "picture-in-picture mode" which allows gamers to keep track of updates and watch live games at the same time. They've got some pretty neat stuff going on, so check out the Fantasy Football website for more details.

[Via Press Release]

EA Sports is serious about earning cred PS3 gamers. Their upcoming press event for the 20th Anniversary of Madden is an exclusively PlayStation affair. The final playable versions of this year's Madden will be present, and only the PS3 and PSP versions will be shown -- no love for the Xbox 360 or Wii.

This is an interesting change for the sports company, whose games ran at a slower framerate on PS3 than Xbox 360 last year. However, ever since former Microsoft-exec Peter Moore took over EA Sports, we've been seeing more emphasis on the PS3 versions of sports games. For example, the PS3 was the system of choice when demonstrating NCAA Football at a media event last month.

This year's iteration of EA's annual NCAA Football franchise is pulling a Soulcalibur with its covers. Every platform (PS2, PSP, PS3, Xbox 360 and Wii) will feature a unique cover athlete. Representing the PS3 this year is Matt Ryan, winner of the 2008 Manning Award -- an award that's reserved for the nation's top senior quarterback. The press release reminds us: "In his senior season, he helped lead the Eagles to an 11-3 record and a victory over Michigan State in the Champs Sports Bowl."

Maybe it's because we're fanboys, but we certainly think this is a better choice for a cover athlete than the Wii version (no, that's not a joke).